Mowing the Yard (weather, chores, married, grandmother)
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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I'm almost 66 and still enjoy mowing. The reason is that a few years ago I bought a 30" riding mower, small enough to mow tight spaces in our lawn (only 1/3 acre) yet easier than pushing one, and a lot of fun. Last weekend I got out the chainsaw and cut down a tree. I also have a chipper/shredder, gas powered pressure washer, and mini-tiller. For me yard work and gardening is fun. The only part that I would give up is picking up after pruning, all that bending over and I'm a bit stiff the next day.
I spend time at the gym 6 days week but I also see mowing every 7 - 10 days as additional exercise. Certainly better than spending that time on my backside. I will continue to do it as long as I physically can.
I enjoy mowing. Mindless. Satisfying. Enjoy seeing a well cut lawn.
At the moment I am unable to cut it myself, and have a landscaper who is doing it. He does a great job; looks super.
Bu as soon as my health improves, I am on it again.
At my previous location I had the ultimate compliment. Was always cutting the grass myself, but go busy with work and couldn't get it done, so I hired a landscaper to cut it. Great lawn, but very little topsoil and I encouraged the landscaper to cut it tall. He gave me the "we cut 'em all the same" buddy. As soon as it burned out, I fired him.
A couple months later I had nursed the lawn back to health and it was looking super. One day I see the guy across the street yelling at the (same) landscaper and pointing to my lawn :"Why doesn't my lawn look good like his".
Very satisfying. But I also understand people who could care less about it; hire someone to do it; and forget about it. To each their own.
A few years ago I also gave up mowing. My wife talked me into it. It was hard to do because I somehow associated yard work with being fit and healthy, but I got used to it pretty quickly. The same people who mow our grass also do our leaves, clean the gutters and shovel snow. They also cut down a couple of large trees for us. For just the mowing, they cut the grass every 2 weeks. It's a 1/3 acre lot and we pay $40 a mow. It's a three man crew and they are done in a half hour or so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JOinGA
I have been mowing my yard in Atlanta myself and generally spending about 45 minutes to an hour each mow, ever since my divorce in 1997. I have had my retirement home in TN since last year and, since I couldn't be in two places, I have had to hire a lawn service. $30 a week to mow/edge in growing season. I have made the decision to give away my lawnmower and edger in Atlanta before I move at the end of the month and get out of the mowing business. I will still do yard work, but I am done with the mowing! I have to admit, I carry a bit of guilt about it. The yard in TN is smaller and I COULD do it myself. I just don't want to! How does everyone else handle the decision to hire out work that you used to do yourself...and still could. Do you feel guilt at spending the money? BTW, I am in my second week of retirement and spending my time in TN while the Atlanta house is on the market. I have to say that walks by the lake with the dogs in the middle of the day are fabulous! I even took in a movie matinee. Still hard to wrap my head around the fact that this is now my life!
I've always hated mowing grass. I remember when I had my second house and going endlessly up and back the long back yard saying "If I ever make enough money, I'm never mowing grass again!" (in my best Scarlet O'Hara voice, lol.) Well, I just paid off my house with the even bigger yard and my yard guy is coming today or tomorrow for the first mowing of the season. I will plant, prune, weed, trim, deadhead, and spray until the sun goes down, but mowing is still tops on my list of most hated things to do.
I don't mind spending 45 minutes once a week to mow my lawn five months out of the year. I found time to mow half an acre when I was working. I can surely find the time to mow a much smaller yard in retirement.
Most of my 3 acre property is native spruce woodland, but they cleared the front of the house for the view. There's a lumpy sloping lawn to mow and I am very happy to pay the local 1 man service to do it. No, wait, let me clarify....I am very happy to watch the local 1 man service swatting all those AK summer bugs as HE does it! I've spent years working out in the bush inhaling, coughing out and scratching bites from summer bugs for 12+ hours every day and like it even less now. His riding mower gets it done in about 15 minutes. It would take me over an hour with the electric push mower. If it wasn't buggy and I wasn't allergic I'd do it myself. Still, if I want the view, foraging habitat for sandhill cranes, and peace with the neighbors it has to be done. Nothing so fussy as edging borders included. Unfortunately I live next door to a grass Nazi. I suspect my relatively "natural" property nags at him though he's been pleasant enough. His house is surrounded by about an acre of leveled featureless grass that he mows, trims, feeds, weeds, rolls, waters, and generally beats into submission with various power implements a couple of times a week all summer. The topsoil is barely thawed but that man was out chiseling the remains of snowbanks off his lawn until dark yesterday.
I'll never understand why people move up here, buy a multiple acre parcel, fell every tree on it, park a house smack dab in the center, surround it with exotic grass seeding, spend their entire summer maintaining their monoculture, then complain that they don't see any of the AK wildlife they read so much about.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-13-2018 at 01:58 PM..
I don't mind mowing a flat lot. I despise mowing hills where you have to shift your weight on the mower to keep from rolling it.
I bought a riding mower because I had a bad back and thought it would make mowing easier. It made it worse because of bumping along the uneven ground and mowing on a slope. I then bought a self-propelled mower and just had to walk behind it to guide it -- much better.
She uses cardboard as a first step in killing the existing grass. More times than I can count, I hear "WHUP, WHUP, WHUP, WHUP" as I punch into the cardboard.
I'll start leaving an additional border!
Cardboard is a great way to get rid of the scourge of English Ivy. Been there and done that.
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